Crazy People, These Arrancar
by Kiwi-kiwi-kii
Summary: Two humans who have briefly encountered Ichigo & co, the telekinetic Sasalia and telepathic Anna, are 'abducted' by Aizen. In reality, Sasalia has been recruited by Gin in a plan to destroy the hogyoku. But will Anna serve as an aide to Sasalia with her powers and comradeship with Grimmjow, or will Aizen find a way to manipulate them both? Sequel to "Crazy People, these Shinigami".
1. PRELOUGUE

**CRAZY PEOPLE, THESE ARRANCAR…**

_Sequel to 'Crazy People, These Shinigami'! Sal and Anna are in Las Noches, but everything is NOT as it seems. Anna has her own powers and Gin isn't really with Aizen? And how about Grimmjow? Meanwhile, Orihime is here too, and Aizen is plotting... GrimxOC_

**~PROLOGUE and SUMMARY~**

IT'S ME, KIWI! I'm back, and this is the sequel to "Crazy People, These Shinigami", as you might be able to tell. If you haven't read that, you kind of need to, to understand this. So last time, Sasalia and Anna have left for Hueco Mundo, and Orihime was taken, too. Since then, the Soul Society labeled all of them as traitors. But just what is REALLY going on?

So, in this story, I have a couple of pairings:

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques and one of my two OCs, Anna Shimizu

Some slight Toshiro Hitsugaya and Momo Hinamori (most of the story takes place in Las Noches, though, so we won't see the shinigami that aren't there all that much.)

Coyote Starrk and Tia Hallibel

Eventual Gin Ichimaru and Rangiku Matsumoto

Also in this story, Sal is going to befriend Orihime and then they're going to train together, and Orihime is going to develop her powers a lot better, because she really needs to do that. Seriously. But in the end, she's gonna have some pretty cool abilities. :D Momo Hinamori is also going to learn a new technique that involved Kido and Spiritual Strings, and it's gonna be awesome.

I may or may not include the whole winter wear battle with the Espada and the Captains in this … I dunno how much it's going to change, you see.

Also: just a warning, I probably won't be able to update this fic very frequently, so it's gonna take a while to complete. Busy life, you know. BUT ANYWAY… that's it for now. On with the show!


	2. Chapter 1

**~Here we are with the first official chapter of 'Crazy People, These Arrancar'! Woo!~**

**~So, on the list of things I don't own, can you guess that's #1? Well, actually, #1 is Pluto, and #2 is the Golden Gate Bridge. But #3 is Bleach, which is the property of TITE KUBO and not me. I'm gonna make that disclaimer stand for the whole story now, cause I'm getting tired of writing these thing, okay? Okay.~**

**~(BTW, 'XXX' indicated a time skip.)~  
**

CHAPTER ONE

Containing:

Four days

An Order

A Complete Disregard of an Order

A Rescue Mission

Training

* * *

**FOUR DAYS AGO**

_"Lead the way, Mister Grimmjow Jeagerjack. I want to know about this world you guys are in, and I've got a feeling this will get me some answers."_

_XXX  
_

_Suddenly, Gin grabbed my arm and pushed me into the portal – what did they call it? a garganta? – and I fell backwards._

_XXX  
_

_"You three girls are going to be training to master your powers here, and will eventually aid us in one way or another, in the upcoming battles. Ulquiorra will be assigned with guarding Orihime. Grimmjow will guard Anna, and Starrk will guard Sasalia. You are dismissed for now."_

_XXX  
_

_Lilynette pulled on my arm again. "C'mon!" she said. Anna rolled her eyes at me. "Catch up with you later, I guess," she said. I tried to keep the smile on my face. "Yea, okay," I said. "See ya."_

**THREE DAYS AGO**

The head captain's graveling voice sounded in the dark room, lit only by the large screen showing his image. _"If Orihime Inoue had been abducted, she wouldn't have had time to meet with you. In short, the fact that she came into your room at night to heal your wounds and then disappeared means that she went to the arrancars of her own accord, just like Sasalia Maki."_

Ichigo jerked forwards. "You idiot-!" "Stop!" A hand came down on his shoulder. Renji looked down at his shocked friend. "You'll just worsen you position if you talk anymore." He turned back to the screen. "I understand what you're saying, head captain Yamamoto. Therefore I, Renji Abarai, will head to Hueco Mundo to bring the traitors Orihime Inoue and Sasalia Maki to their senses!"

"Renji…" Ichigo said, surprised.

"Besides," Renji continued, "all the evidence points to the fact that Sasalia's friend, Anna Shimizu, has either been abducted or has chosen to leave with the arrancar as well. It'll be a triple-rescue mission, and –"

"_You musn't."_

The faces of several surprised shinigami stared **(A/N: say that five times fast. ;D)** at the softly glowing screen.

"_We know that the arrancar are ready for battle. All the members of Hitsugaya's advance troops are to return to defend the Soul Society immediately."_

"Are … are you saying that you want us to abandon our three friends?" Rukia said slowly.

The head captain's voice rumbled, "_We cannot risk the whole world over the lives of those three humans, however gifted they may be."_

Rukia stood up straight. "Unfortunately, head captain … I cannot follow those orders!"

"_I thought as much … therefore, I'm glad I prepared for it." _Two pairs of wooden Japanese doors opened in the air. The faces of the shinigami in the small, dark room turned towards the old doors, eyes wide. Out stepped two imposing figures – Kenpachi Zaraki and Byakuya Kuchiki.

Kuchiki glared coldly at the shinigami, focusing on Ichigo. "Don't fight us. We've been ordered to take you back by force if necessary." Ichigo lowerded his head. "All right."

"Then I won't ask for Soul Society's help. But at least help me get to Hueco Mundo." The room was deadly silent. Ichigo turned back towards the image of the head captain.

"Orihime is my friend. I haven't known Sasalia or Anna for as long, but I consider them my friends as well! And I'm not going to abandon my friends … I'll go save them mysel–"

"_You musn't!" _

…

"What?"

The head captain opened his left eye a crack. "_We need your help in this battle. I acknowledge that the loss of Orihime Inoue, who was a valuable healer and a probable asset to the Soul Society, is great … I also acknowledge that those two young humans were exceptional among their kind, and it is a great–" _"Stop talking about them like they're dead! I WILL save Orihime and–"

"_I complement you on your bravery and loyalty to your comrades. However, this will someday be your downfall … child! But for now, I won't allow you to plot your own course of action and die for nothing! You shall stand by until you receive orders. That is all."_

The screen flickered and turned off, leaving the room dark.

Ichigo clenched his fists and thought of his friends.

Orihime; goofy and a bit airheaded, with her strange recipes and unique manner of assessment … but with a strong will and a pure heart, and always a kind word for everyone. Sasalia; strong-willed but friendly, inwardly confused as she was thrown into the world of shinigami so suddenly, and yet willing to go along and help them out, developing per powers quickly. Anna; shy and quiet, with a keen mind and hidden powers … and secretly feeling left out, wanting to understand what was going on and be a part of it.

He couldn't abandon them.

Kenpachi turned back towards the doors leading to Soul Society, his face void of the maniacal smile for one. "Let's go," he growled. Most of the shinigami in the room walked to the gate.

Ichigo didn't turn around.

It was dead silent in the room, except for the random static on the screen. Rukia turned back to her friend. "Ichigo…"

He didn't respond.

Eyes downcast, Rukia muttered, "Sorry," and disappeared as the doors closed.

**TWO DAYS AGO**

"Welcome," Urahara said as a figure approached his shop. It was night and the moon was out. "It's about time you came… Ichigo."

XXX

The pair walked across the vast basement under Urahara's small shop, and the shopkeeper talked. Neither looked at each other.

"I was afraid that Aizen would go after Orihime's power, so I left her out of this battle … taking her feelings into consideration, it was a mistake to leave her out. I didn't have to time to warn Sasalia about that kind of thing, although admittedly I would have. Perhaps it would have made a difference if I had, perhaps not."

The pair continued forwards, and Urahara kept taking.

"I had also sensed, if only vaguely, Miss Shimizu's latent power, but I never thought … well, I should have taken into consideration the fact that she could be used to force Sasalia into action, if nothing else. But for Aizen to desire Sasalia's powers that much … although knowing him, he probably didn't think much of it, merely abduction another human to get the results he desired. The fact that she, too, possesses unique human powers is most likely just icing on the cake."

Urahara took a breath. "…I shall do anything I can to help you, Ichigo."

Ichigo looked forwards, slightly downcast but very determined. "Is that alright? After all, you'll be going against Soul Society's judgment."

Urahara chuckled. "I don't work for the Soul Society anymore."

_After the appearance of Chad and Ishida, a display of their powers, and their declaration that they would venture on to Hueco Mundo to save their friends Orihime, Sasalia and Anna, Urahara opened the portal and sent the trio through._

**THE PREVIOUS DAY**

Two figures, one lean and tall and one shorter and average in size, stood in a large room, a sort of indoor courtyard. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, and the support pillars near the edges of the room – everything was painted white.

The tall figure smiled and spoke in a voice that many would hear as mocking and eerie, but the smaller figure didn't show any signs of dismay. "Ya ready ta get started, Sali-chan?"

"Only if you stop calling me that ridiculous nickname, Ichimaru. But I thought I told you … I've been ready to train with you for quite a while." _After all, if I'm going to help you with this plan of yours, I need to gets stronger._

"A'righy, then. Let's go."

**~AND THAT'S IT FOR CHAPTER ONE!~**

**~Okay, like I said on the prologue, I probably won't be able to update all that often. But I'm determined to see this story through, so hang in there! :D Till next time.~**

**~KIWI OUT!~**


	3. Chapter 2

**~hello! Here it is, chapter two, just like I promised I would get to ... eventually! Heheh…~**

**~I've actually written out the entire plot for this story (for once)! This should end just after Ichigo defeats Ulquiorra… but some other battles from the anime have happened, some haven't, some never will … and by that time, Sasalia will be fighting in the world of the living – that's all I'm saying, though. There will be a FINAL sequel that deals with the whole battle in Karakura Town.~**

**~Oh, and also, I'm not going to have ALL the espada survive the war and perfect-happy-ending things like that. I'm having SOME of them not die for the sake of the story, but … well, you'll see. ~**

**~Oh, and I only just realized it now, but Luppi sort of does not exist in this story. Oh well. X-D *plot fail*~**

CHAPTER TWO

Containing:

Introducing … Nel!

New companions!

Parental trouble

Adventures of the Cat and the Mouse

A Deal

"We're weally sowwy!"

"…."

"We never tought aw game of Etewnal Puwsuit would cause suts a misunda-standin'."

Ishida, Ichigo, and Chad looked on, slightly dumbfounded, at the green-haired kid and her two hollow companions – not to mention the enormous purple hollow that resembled a cartoonish snake … or perhaps slug. "…Eternal … Pursuit?"

The green-haired kid scratched the back of her head shyly. "Unfowtunately, Hueco Mundo doesn't have any entatai'ment." Ichigo stared at her. "…Game? You were crying!" The green-haired girl perked up. "Yesh! Nel is a weal masokist! It's no fun unless Nel is chased to da point where Nel cwies a wittle!" Ichigo turned and punched one of Nel's companions. "What kind of things are you teaching this kid?"

Ishida stepped forwards. "Is Nel your name?"

"Yesh!" Nel said. "Nel is an awwancah named Nel Tu." Ichigo leaned forwards, surprised. "An arrancar?" "Yesh! And deese guys aw …"

The purple ant-like hollow bowed. "Nel's older brother, Pesche."

The fat, Easter-Island-headed hollow bowed, too. "Nel's older brother, Dondochakka!"

Nel gestured behind her. "And dis is …. Bawabawa!"

_After a bit of drama involving a further explanation of Nel and her…sibling …, an introduction by Ichigo and Co., a short (forced) game of eternal tag, Nel's art of persuasion by tears, a very exciting encounter with a sand guardian hollow, and the group meeting up with Rukia and Renji…_

"…Nel will guide you to Las Noches!"

~~~~~~TIME SKIP OH YEA LOOK AT MY AWESOME AUTHOR POWERS … not~~~~~~

The large purple snake…slug… thing, made its way across the bleached sands of Hueco Mundo.

Riding on the back of Bawabawa, Nel looked up at Ichigo.

"Owihime? Anna? Sasawia? Who aw dey?"

Ichigo looked into the distance. "They're all friends of mine. We're going to Las Noches to rescue them." He glanced down at Nel. _How's this going to work out, anyway? I can't be dragging a kid – whether she's an arrancar or not – all around Las Noches with me._

Nel looked like she had other plans. Jumping up from her position on Ichigo's lap, she cried, "Yay! A wescue mission! Ok, den! From dis pint onwards, me'n Dondochakka'n Pesche'n Bawabawa'll help you!" Her … siblings … cheered in approval (Bawabawa swaying side to side as he did so, causing the occupants of the makeshift train to nearly fall off).

"Whoa, Whoa, wait a minute!" Ichigo said. "You can't possibly think you're actually gonna be fighting along with us, right?" Renji leaned forwards. "I have to admit, Ichigo's right. There's no way a little kid like you –" Nel jumped forwards and headbutted Renji in the stomach, causing various reactions that ranged from indifference (Chad) to shock (Ishida) to worry (Rukia) to slight glee (Ichigo, obviously).

"Wherever Nel goes, we go!" Pesche cried. "We'll follow her to the death!" "That's right, don'tcha know!" Dondochakka added. Ichigo growled. "That's not the point here. And that's definitely not the side that a big brother should take when his little sister wants to do something that's so dangerous, idiot!"

"…Kurosaki," Ishida whispered. Ichigo turned, annoyed. "What?"

"Just because they aren't going to be fighting with us doesn't mean that they can't come. After all, they most likely know the layouts better than we do, and they may be of help somehow. Besides, is it really alright to leave a child like her running around Hueco Mundo, even if she IS an arrancar?" Ichigo pondered this. "All right, you have a point … I guess." He turned to Nel and her companions. "Okay. HEY! I said okay!"

Nel stopped whatever is was she was doing – attempting to sit on the shoulders of both Renji and Rukia at the same time, it looked like – and turned to face the substitute shinigami. "Yesh, Itsygo?"

"You can come with – wait, _Itsygo_?"

"Yaay! Nel can come!"

"Wait just a –"

"Nel knows just how faw away Las Noches is, too!"

"Okay, but listen –"

"It's about twee days fwom here, wight next to da place where da blonde girl, da big-booded girl, and da scawy silver-haired guy were aw fightin'!"

"It's _Ichi_– …Wait. WHAT?"

~~~~x~~x~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~in the world of the living ~~X~~X~~X~~X~~x~~x~~x~~~~

"Don't try to dissuade me, Mr. Urahara, I KNOW my Sasalia came here after school _multiple_ times right before she disappeared. It's right around that time she started acting odd, too."

"Look, Mr. Maki, I know you're worried about you daughter, but –"

"She's been running around for the better half of the summer, doing who-knows-what … and I didn't stop her, oh, I thought she was just being a teenager–!" "That's perfectly –" "But now she's _gone_, do you understand? My daughter has _disappeared_ and it has started with and has come down to YOU. I'm about to get the police –" "Mr. Maki, I assure you… now if you'll just calm down…"

Standing a few feet away, watching her husband rant, was Mrs. Maika Maki. She was a short, slim woman, mirroring her daughter's figure, but with shoulder-length, reddish-strawberry blonde hair. She usually looked preoccupied, as she led a busy life between maintaining her house and garden and participating in her spouse's business affairs. Right now, though, her face appeared calculating and somewhat hostile, in an aloof sort of way.

She shifted her weight onto her other foot and watched the word battle between her husband and the shopkeeper with hidden interest.

And she came to a decision.

~~~~x ~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~Las Noches; Grimmjow's Room ~~X~~X~~X~~X ~~x~~x~~~~

"I'm bored."

"Not my problem."

"I'm your charge. It IS your problem."

"I knew I should never have brought you in here."

Anna sighed and stared at her blue-haired … companion. She was half-sitting, half-lounging in a squishy beanbag chair, engaging in the _enthralling_ sport of watching Grimmjow lay on his surprisingly puffy-looking bed and attempt to take a catnap. No pun intended – well, maybe a little. Attempt, however, was the key word, as Anna kept interrupting him.

She swiveled in the chair so that her feet were in the hair and her arms dangled and touched the floor. She sighed; Grimmjow growled. "Can't you shut up for five minutes?"

The short girl scowled back at him. "I've _been_ quiet. I've been quiet for a long time. Don't you people DO anything around here? Or do you just eat, sleep, and fight?" "Yea, pretty much. Problem?" Anna gave an exasperated noise and slid off the beanbag.

"The problem _is_, I'm bored, genius."

"That's _your_ problem. Not mine. Go play with a string or something. And don't mock me!"

"_Play with a string_. That's pretty ironic, coming from you." "And what does that mean?" "Weeeellll, considering the released for of Pantera –"

Grimmjow sprung up, finally giving the mousey girl in front of him his full attention. "How do you know my Zanpakutou's name? I never told you, and you've either been in here with me or locked up in some other room where no other arrancar were allowed." "A lot of fun, that was." "Quit it with the sarcasm! My point is, you couldn't have heard it from anyone else. So how –" "I heard it from you." "Like Hell." "It's true!" "I'd remember something like that. I don't make it a point to engage in smalltalk." "Yea, I noticed. But I did hear it from you. Or … not necessarily _hear._ More like …"

The sexta growled, leaning back down to sit on his bed. "Don't tell me. More of your freaky mind-reading stuff?"

Anna pouted from her position, sitting criss-cross on the floor. "I'm not a freak."

"Tell me how many other people you know can read minds, then."

Anna opened her mouth, then closed it. She opened it again. "Tell me how many other people _you _know that can turn into a blue-haired cat-boy."

_~Oh, you're playing a dangerous game, chick.~ _"Like Hell I'm a cat-boy! And I'm not a human, unlike you! All arrancars have different powers!" He took a deep breath and tried to suppress the instinct to punch the short girl across his room. "The point is, you'd better not be picking my mind, or else I'll just have you locked up in –"

It was Anna's turn to jump up. "Okay, first of all, that's just mean!" Grimmjow looked like he was about to interrupt, but Anna continued on regardless. "And I'm not picking your brain, okay? It's not my fault that I can't control my powers very well! Things just come to me – like what you just thought, 'you're playing a dangerous game' – I didn't mean to hear you, I just _did_. I can do it consciously, but when it happens, I can't block it! What would YOU do in my situation?" She stopped to take a breath, but Grimmjow didn't interrupt her this time.

"I've seen weird things all my life, and my best friend does too, so at least I know I'm not insane. I can't do anything about the things I see, unlike her. But then she suddenly gets involved with these weird people, and I get left behind, and even weirder things start to happen – like YOU," she accused, pointing a finger at her companion, "busting into a pastry shop and wrecking… wrecking – everything!" Anna was in full rant mode now. "I just wanted to come here to figure out what was going on –maybe I was being naive. But I've got these weird powers and I don't know what to do with them, and this place is full of strange things and stranger people – if you can call them that – and I really don't know what's going on or where I am or where Sal is and I _just realized that my parents must be going nuts_! Ohmigod! I totally forgot about my parents! I've been here what, three days? And I didn't even ever –"

"OKAY, just _shut up_ already!" Grimmjow roared.

For a moment, there was dead silence in the not-so-small room (that suddenly felt more than a little claustrophobic) as both the short, slightly red-in-the face mousey girl and the imposing, rough blue-haired espada stood staring at eachother, ten feet apart. Both were breathing slightly heavier than normal.

The silence started to get awkward.

Grimmjow huffed and looked down. "I don't get why the Hell Aizen teamed me up with you. He should have sent you to Tia or something. Just 'cause I've met you before – look. I don't know if Arrancar have the same emotions as humans do, 'cause I've never felt half the stuff you're talking about. But – er –"

Anna chuckled. "Oh, I think you're just a typical thickheaded male. Most guys don't get the whole anxious girl stuff. And you seem more … argumentative … than most."

Grimmjow suppressed the urge to correct her for the 'thickheaded' remark. Instead, he settled for a disgruntled but obliging "I'm glad we can agree on something".

Anna (for the umpteenth time that day) sighed. "Maybe … we could work out a deal."

Grimmjow looked at least semi-interested. "Okay. Shoot."

"I'll try to be as not-annoying as possible. In return, you could help me with my training."

"Training?"

"Not, like, physical stuff. I mean with my powers. I still don't know most of what I can do, and what the limits are, stuff like that."

Another brief silence fell in the room.

"Okay. It's a deal."

**~Any thoughts put into a review would be greatly appreciated :D Till nest time! KIWI OUT!~**


	4. Preview Part 1

**Wow. Hi. It's Kiwi, I'm not dead. So, I've been having a major writer's block, and actually still am – plus I'm working on this big story called "It's Miya's Choice", but I don't have it up yet (and it probably won't be up for a while). So, instead of a chapter, I'm giving you a flash of a fight that will take place in Hueco Mundo in the near-distantish future. NANAO ISE AND RANGIKU MATSUMOTO VS. THE SEVENTH ESPADA, ZOMMARI RUREAUX! (Wow, is that an unpronounceable name or what? XD) **

**I'm actually writing this story, like, in snippets and stringing them together right now more than anything, and it's my guess that the next actual, full-length chapter won't be up for a while. Heh heh … sorry! (scratches back of head sheepishly). Actually, this is the longest scene I've managed so far. So I'm posting it in two chapters as a sneak-peak for the future chapters.**

**Anyway, since Nanao's never shown her Zanpakutou, I've had to take some creative liberties here. Her Zanpakutou is henceforth (for the purpose of this story, anyway): MIRAREI. It means 'Ghost Mirror', and it's pretty cool, if I do say so myself. :) The release command is "kieru", which means "vanish". ****It'll be shown in part two of this two-part preview.**_** Plus, she's got some ninja skills.**_** Oh yea. Now onwards!**

Rukia and Chad stared wide-eyed from their position on the floor as the mysterious swirl of ash intercepted the large blade that was about to collide with Rukia. Chad looked behind him. "This spiritual pressure…" Rukia gasped as she tried to stand up, but after their previous battle with the ninth espada, she was worse for wear. Chad was grieved to see that she and not he bore the worst of the injuries, but he quickly returned his focus to the shadows as he heard two sets of footsteps approaching.

"It can't be …" Rukia murmured. "…Matsumoto-san? And…"

Two figures approached from the shadows: the familiar, busty form of the Rangiku, lieutenant of the tenth division, and the more petite figure of Nanao, lieutenant of the eight.

"Hey, everybody!" Matsumoto swaggered. "We thought you could use a hand!"

"…Ohh?" The large man behind the sword said. He stepped back, away from Rukia. The ash swirled and gathered at the Zanpakutou hilt Rangiku was holding, re-forming into her sword once more.

Nanao adjusted her glasses. "Don't you know that it's bad manners to attack a girl who has no weapon drawn?" The man _humph'd_. "Practicality before mannerisms."

"True enough," Nanao agreed, taking a defensive stance. "What do you say, Rangiku-san?" Said woman readied her sword. "Right. Let's do it! Chad, can you take Rukia away from here?" "Right," he growled, scooping up the small girls' form (much to her protest). Before the large man could react, Nanao flash-stepped to the other side of him, putting him between her partner and herself. The man eyed her. "I can see you've been trained in the art of war," he stated emotionlessly. "Surrounding your enemies is a basic but effective strategy to employ." "Why thank you," Nanao said.

"Unfortunately, it won't help you here. You are fated to lose this battle, intruder; just as your friends are destined to die at the hands of out superior army."

"Hey, don't count us out yet," Rangiku said. She took a breath. "Rangiku Matsumoto, lieutenant of the tenth division." Nanao followed with, "Nanao Ise, the eighth division's lieutenant." The man's expression did not change in the slightest. "Yes, by your spiritual pressure and the badges on your arm, I could infer that. Two lieutenants, hmm?"

_Flash. _"That's not nearly enough."

Nanao gasped as the man suddenly appeared behind her. He swung his sword heavily, creating a dreadful swishing sound as he cut clean through the center of her form –

Only to have her appear just as suddenly beside to Rangiku once more. The white cloth that he cut in half fluttered to the floor, looking ominous in the poor lighting.

The man straightened up, and after a pause, announced "Zommari Rureaux. The seventh espada. That's me," in his ever cool tone. "Your speed is exceptional for a lieutenant. However, do not believe that because you avoided me on that level, you may best me in combat."

Nanao and Rangiku glanced at eachother briefly, and nodded. "Both Rukia and Chad are far away by now," Nanao stated.

Then Rangiku tuned back to the espada and sighed as if bored.

Zommari raised one of his eyebrows. "Ohh? Do you not believe my words, shinigami?" Rangiku shook her head. "Well, not at all … but that's not what has me off put. I mean, look at you! A Mohawk. Skull earrings. Some strange bone necklace and a decked-out Chinese overcoat. What exactly are you trying to be? Cause let me tell you, wherever it is, you're FAILING!" She ended her statement with her tongue sticking out at the espada, who was now staring at her in relative shock.

Before Zommari could compose himself, a shout from the smaller lieutenant rang out.

"Hado number eleven! _Tsuzuri Raiden_!"

Suddenly, the floor was crackling with yellow energy, and the two shinigami were in the air.

Nanao wasted no time with her next move. _"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man!..." _"Growl, Haineko!," Rangiku cried at the same time. The lightning was receding from the floor, showing the image of the still-standing Zammari._ "Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" _Ash swirled around the seventh espada, creating a whirlwind. "_SHAKKAHO!_"

A red explosion lit the area as Nanao's spell went off. Both women landed a slight distance away from the blast, holding their breaths.

"…Ingenious," Zommari's voice rumbled. "When the first girl sonidoed around me and back to her partner, she set up small, metallic wires around the floor and me. She then attempted to shock me with the lower spell as a temporary paralysis. Then the older girl's ash cut up the wires and integrated them within the dust, so that they would amplify the stronger spells' force. A nice trick."

The dust settled to reveal him lightly burned and rugged, but still standing tall and expressionlessly.

Nanao gave a tight smile. "Essentially, yes. But you were wrong on a few points. Firstly, I'm older than my partner here. Second, it's not a trick and spells, it's a strategy and kido – our demon way."

"And lastly," Rangiku interjected, "we don't use sonido, we use _shunpo_, of flash step." Nanao added, "And we've also given you our names, _mister_ Zommari Rureaux."

All was silent for a moment, before the espada broke the peace. "Ohh … so you girls pull off a couple of clever moves and so you fancy you can play around with the espada, hmm? I'll show you … how arrogant you really are!"

_Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang._

In a moment, Nanao and Rangiku were surrounded by … not two – not three – but FIVE Zommari Rureauxes. The quickly went back to back, Nanao pulling out a short sword form her sleeve to block the swords aimed at her, while Rangiku used her already-drawn Zanpakutou. "_Tenran!_" Nanao cried, blasting the copies away from them in a whirlwind.

Rangiku smirked. "One of you was bad enough! Do we have to deal with FIVE poorly-dressed 'Zen-gangster' wannabes?" Zommari gave another _humph_. "I see you are not fazed by my technique. I am the fastest arrancar in Aizen's army, and this is my ultimate–" "Oh whatever. We've told you our names and we have yours, that's enough stalling! Nanao, let's go!" "Right," Nanao replied, darting forward to the espada who sniffed disdainfully. "I told you, you are being arrogant! You cannot outpace m –"

His words were interrupted by two handfuls of razor-sharp shuriken flying from Nanao's hands; he evaded them with ease – or so he thought. As he moved thought the air, his arm cause on something – _more twine? She attached twine to the shuriken, and is controlling them in midair! _The twine wrapped around his body and the shuriken crashed against his shin – only to leave no mark and clatter harmlessly to the ground.

"Shoot, the arrancar have _heirro_ – armored skin," Rangiku remembered. "Is that so?" Nanao muttered. "If that's the case –"

"I've had enough of these kiddy games. If you think you are enough to take me on …" Zommari's voice boomed loudly in the dimly-lit passage.

"SUPRESS … Brujería!" _Crap, _Nanao and Rangiku thought. Then, _Eeewwww, _was their next thought, as Zommari cracked his head all the way to the side, far past anything a normal being would be capable of. **(A/N: was anyone else seriously freaked out by that? I mean, C'mon!)** In addition to his head suddenly switching orientation, he slammed his hands together and his sword bent in on itself. With a sickening gurgle, he began to transform…

**That's part one, part two will be up soon!**


	5. Preview Part 2

**Here's part two of Nanao and Rangiku vs. Zommari! A reminder, that Nanao's Zanpakutou is "Mirarai" (Ghost Mirror) and the release command is "kieru" (vanish). I don't know when I'll be able to update next, though :( But I'll try! Woot, on with the show!**

"I'm … not sure if I should be screaming in horror or laughing by ass off, here, Rangiku," Nanao admitted. "I think a bit of both is called for," Rangiku compromised. "I mean, what else is there to do when your opponent suddenly turns into some creepy version of a ballerina?"

Rather than comment on this, Zommari struck out his hand. The two shinigami widened their eyes and vanished from the area, appearing once more behind Zommari. The espada turned his head back at them and smiled – not a very reassuring gesture.

"What," trilled Rangiku, flipping her hair back. "It looks like your release is just for show." "Don't push it," Nanao warned under her breath." She was interrupted, however, by Zommari's booming laugh. "Do you not realize? My attack has already reached you, shinigami. That arm you used to touch your hair… belongs to ME."

Rangiku froze. Staring at her arm, she eyed a strange, black sun-shaped tattoo that certainly hadn't been there when she woke up this morning. "What … is this?" "Rangiku-san, careful!" "I know!"

"It is too late! It is as I have said. You see, everything holds sovereignty over something else. Subordinates are at the command of their supervisors. Commoners are at the command of their king. The clouds are at the command of the wind –"

"The wind is not a sentient being, it can't command anything," Nanao replied briskly. "If you're going to brag to us about your ability, just get to the point, no need for long-winded explanations of things we already know." She swore that she saw Zommari's eye twitch several times before his usual calm came back over him. The fact that she succeeded in irritating him brought brief satisfaction, but she was currently using most of her brain to figure out a way around whatever abilities this new form might posses.

"Let me demonstrate for you then, shinigami. I call to your left arm."

Rangiku's arm stretched out towards the espada. She gasped. _"That's right … this way …" _Unwillingly, Rangiku took a step forwards. "Rangiku-san!" Nanao protested. "I … I can't help it! It's going to rip my arm off! Gaah?" Suddenly her arm reversed directions. "Perhaps you like this better then? Your arm is mine to control … shinigami!" Rangiku's hand slowly wrapped around her neck.

Slash! Rangiku gasped and her arm fell to the side. "I'm sorry, Rangiku-san," Nanao said softly. In her hand, she held a small needle. "I packed all sorts of things in preparation for our trip to Hueco Mundo, seeing as how my swordplay is not quite up to spar. This is something Nemu gave me – oh don't look at me like that, it's not poisonous or permanent. But let's try to avoid getting hit by more of … whatever that was … because it's not safe for too much repeated use."

Rangiku stared at her arm. "I can't move it."

"Of course you can't, it's a very complicated paralysis toxin that cancels the receptors to your nerves in the place of the – look out!"

Both women dove aside as the espada attacked again.

"Shit," Nanao muttered. "We need a plan." Rangiku nodded. "Foolish shinigami!" Zommari roared. "You cannot evade me!" "Crap –"

The two women dived away as the espada shot more of his lethal sun tattoos towards them. Rangiku narrowed her eyes, then grinned. "So, each of those freaky eyes on your overly inflated body controls one thing completely, correct? If that's the case… _growl!_ Heineko!" A storm of ash surrounded Zommari, quickly forming a whirlwind. "What's this?" he muttered.

"Nice, Rangiku!" Nanao cheered. "He won't be able to control all the dust in the atmosphere."

"WHAT IS THIS? You … shinigami … you…!"

Rangiku closed the swirl of ash and it exploded in a chaotic storm, blowing both her and Nanao back and destroying the outer walls of the corridor they were in,. Sunlight streamed in and cast shadows on the dust.

Rangiku sighed. "I guess that's the end of that. He wasn't so tough…" She stared at her arm.

The tattoo hadn't disappeared.

Nanao scowled. As Heineko's ash settled, a hulking form was revealed – Zommari, emerging out of the pink shell that formed his lower half. Blood was oozing from the eye openings in his body.

"You crawled into that shell to escape the worst of Rangiku's attack. Clever." The septima espada panted hard.

"You …little … bitch." Pant. Pant. "Un … un… unforgivable … DAMN YOU! _HYA_!" Suddenly, his forehead split open and a series of new eyes burst out. Rangiku gasped, but before she could escape, a tattoo sped straight for her and hit her squarely on the chest. She sputtered and coughed. "Rangiku-san!"

"Eh heh heh … that's one down," Zommari commented, an edge of hysteria tinting his words. Nanao glared at him hatefully. "Damn it…"

"She won't be able to try something like that again, and with my armor, your little blades can't touch me. Give up, shinigami! You've lost!" Nanao closed her eyes. She reached back into her sleeve and pulled out her short sword that she kept attached to a belt on her arm. "I told you, that won't work! It's futile! Ha! Now submit to my hierarchy! SHINIGAMI!" Blast after blast of Zommari's power shot forward, but Nanao was quick enough to evade them all. Panting, Zommari peered behind him, where Nanao stood with both of her arms extended, her right hand gripping the short blade.

"_Kieru…"_

Fog swirled into the devastated corridor, the mist obscuring Zomarri's vision. He took a wary step back. "Sneaking up? Such a dirty tactic is no use against me!" From the ground, Rangiku turned to see Nanao's form briefly, until the fog hid her image completely. "Nanao's Zanpakutou? I've … never seen it before," the lieutenant whispered.

Nanao's voice rang out in the dense air.

"Mirarae."

A long slash of light was gleaming from where she stood, clearing most of the fog away. In place of the short sword that she previously held, Nanao was holding a blade a bit longer than three feet, that was positively shining with light, so much that it was hard to look at the lieutenant because of the reflection shimmering from her blade.

"It ends with this, espada."

The mist swirled up once again, and Rangiku briefly lost sight of what happened next. One moment, Nanao was standing clear across the corridor, the next she was back in front of Zommari with her sword going clear though his chest, its gleam mysteriously dulled.

"What … what magic is this? Do you attempt to fool me, shin–" "This is my Zanpakutou's power. It's called 'ghost mirror' because it can temporarily become intangible, as it is right now. This way, I can pass my sword through anything, even creature with the thickest armor." Rangiku and Zomarri widened their eyes, the latter exclaiming, "You don't mean –!"

"Indeed I do. _Solidify, _Mirarei!"

The blade shone with full force once again. Blood poured out of Zomarri's body and Nanao tore her sword back from his torso, stepping aside as he fell forwards. Rangiku got up as the controlling tattoos on her body faded away.

"Wow, Nanao! I never knew you had a sword like that. That's my girl!"

Nanao sealed her Zanpakutou and sheathed it in her sleeve once more. "Indeed, but now we have more pressing matters to attend to. What do you think the others are facing? After all, that was one of the weaker espada."

Rangiku's eyes darkened. "True. Let's go then – and do you have anything that will let me move my arm again?"

"Sorry, Nemu didn't give me anything to cancel the drug."

"Typical."

Both women walked away from the rubble that was once the tall tower.

**Wow, Okay. So that's it for now. I wish Nanao would show her sword in canon … Yachiru too! Aren't you really curious about her powers? I've seen a lot of good theories … ;) **

**Review? Please? It would make me very happy :D**

**Till next time, 'sayonara' from Kiwi!  
**


	6. Chapter 3

…**oh my god. I'm alive. **

**Nope, your eyes are not deceiving you – this is Kiwi-kiwi-kii and you're reading **_**Crazy People these Arrancar**_**! Erm, welcome back…? Heh heh…**

**Okay, so, story updating fail … sorry! I … kinda forgot about/lost motivation to write this story for a while (plus I'm in the middle of writing After the War, Before the Peace, which is taking a lot of time to plan out chapters). But I was reminded of this story when I checked my email and I noticed someone had reviewed one of my stories, and I was like, **_**oh it's for ATWBTP**_**. But no, instead I found a rather motivating review for this story! So here we go.**

IMPORTANT: as a means of apology, I've created a digital art of Sasalia and Anna. There's a link on my profile if you want to see it! 

**And in case you're wondering – May. I haven't updated since the middle of May. It's now the end of November, meaning I haven't updated in HALF A YEAR. So, I'm gonna try to get in as much as I can during the one week I have off for Thanksgiving break! There's some important stuff going on in this chapter, like what Gin wants Sasalia's help with, and Momo starting her training … and Grimmjow/Anna stuff. Enjoy!**

CHAPTER THREE (…wow I'm only at chapter three. Plus that preview of Matsumoto and Nanao vs. Pumpkin-arrancar.)

Containing:

The Revelation! Gin's Plan

… 'Vacation' of the Cat and Mouse?

Momo's Strange Request

"Santen Kesshun!"

My thin arc of lighting reached Orihime's glowing orange shield and bounced erratically, almost sliding off the triangular shield, moving to the ground where it was absorbed by the sand and became static electricity.

Just as I planned.

I began sprinting in a wide circle around my opponent, while I stayed focused on keeping the electricity in the sand alive – harder than it looked. Orihime calmly turned with my so that I was kept facing her shield. We had been doing this for almost half an hour, and I was starting to get dizzy. At least she was breathing rather hard too.

Suddenly I jumped up, using my reishi manipulation to propel me into the air, where I stopped, standing on nothing. It was so much easier to do here, where apparently, (I was just copying what Gin told me) the concentration of spirit particles is much higher than the Human World's…

"Whoa, shi-!"

I rolled in the air, dodging Orihime's silent Koten Zanshun – her only, but rather deadly, offensive skill. Of course, I knew she wasn't really trying to kill me, but still. I know what that thing can do.

I dodged it easily as it came back from behind – Orihime's motivation was down, it seems, because her attacks were quite slow.

I billowed the reishi on the ground, and a light cloud of sand came up. With a motion from my hands, the particles of sand shot towards Orihime, who blocked the stinging specks with her shield once again.

…oh, dammit. I let the electric current in the ground run out.

I sighed and dropped to the ground.

"I keep getting distracted," I called to Orihime while beginning to walk to her. "I can't do that planning-ahead thing. I was trying to keep up an electrical current so I could shock you or something, but it went out." I kicked the sand dejectedly. "That's like the third time I've tried that. Just today. Not to mention all my other attempts at making complex attacks. Che, and I remember thinking that I was good at multitasking when I was able to combine water and electricity back at Ura… SO ANYWAY."

I quickly caught myself. Takling about the human world always made Orhihime … well, both of us … sad. I scratched the back of my head.

"It's true that my powers in general are stronger here," I mused. "But there's not much to work with. Water was my second-best attack. Now there's just tons of sand, which doesn't make for much of a good attack. You?"

Orihime sealed her little fairies back into her clips. (You'd think I'd have seen enough weird things so far, but the first time we trained, I can't begin to tell how much that freaked me out.)

"I think I'm improving. Whenever you launch rocks at me, I can sort of repel them with my shield, rather than just blocking them. I'm trying to combine my different attacks, so I'll have a bigger variety." She smiled softly. "Training with you is helping me make the shield stronger, as well. Thank you."

Waving my hands in front of me, I replied, "Really, you're helping me … but hey," I muttered lowly as I reached her, leaning in close.

"Why do you think Aizen wants us to train? I mean – I guess he wants you to act as a healer for any of the wounded Espada. But then why develop all your abilities, like defense and especially attack? And me, I don't really get why I'm here AT ALL." I looked down. "There's no way I'm stronger than even the lowest espada. I doubt I'd be any help in a fight…"

Really, what was Aizen thining? I knew why _Gin_ wanted me here, although I was beginning to think thatb his idea was crazy. I haven't even seen the hogyoku yet. Why would he think I would be able to –

"I don't know, but I know why I, _myself_, have decided to be here," Orihime said. Her usually soft voice had a hint of metal to it – I looked up in surprise.

"ih…Isn't it because Aizen threatened your friends or something?" I said, confused. I didn't know she had her own agenda.

"Yes. But I'm also planning to destroy the hogyoku."

If I had been drinking anything, I would have spitted it out.

"WHOA? RE-" I cut myself short, looked around, and felt out for any reiatsu of anyone I didn't want to overhear thins conversation. None of the espada or anyone were…

Oh Gin, you little eavesdropping fox.

"Quit spying on us," I called out, turning around so that my back was to Orihime.

Gin stepped out from behind one of those pointless pillars that were littered everywhere (really, what was Aizen thinking when he designed this place?), grinning as usual. Orihime gasped and stepped back.

"Oh, it's okay, he…" I stopped myself yet again, not sure if I was supposed to reveal our plan to even her. I glanced back at Gin while Orihime started babbling something about how she was joking. Gin put up his hand so that his palm faced us and flopped it in a nonchalant manner.

"Nah, 's okay, Orihime-chan. Frankly, as Sasalia has 'bout ta tell ya … me 'n her have a similar plan."

Orihime's babbling stopped abruptly.

"Gin here seems to think," I said to her, "that my reishi-manipulation abilities would let me, um, synchronize or something with the hogyoku's spiritual-something or other, which would let me, like, 'unravel' its spirit-thread-thing and somehow that would cancel its powers, either by destroying the stone completely or just … strip the hogyoku of it's powers, which really doesn't make any sense to me at all. So yea." Wow. I felt like a teenage girl who didn't know what she was talking about in that explanation. Oh wait, that's right! I am.

"…Huh?" Orihime said.

"Yea, I don't get it either. I don't think my powers really work like that. But I guess I can try." Or die trying. That was slowly but surely looking like it was the case. I glared at Gin... well, more like looked at him disapprovingly. My glare needs some work.

"Well, ain't this int'restn'," Gin said, his grin widening. I doubt he was genuinely surprised at Orihime's inner goal. He probably knew about it before she did – he was just that kind of guy. "In that case, let's all chat."

* * *

~~~~x ~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~ ONE HOUR LATER - In Starrk's room ~~X~~X~~X~~X ~~x~~x~~~~

Thank you, Starrk, for being an extremely lazy and laid-back person and subsequently filling your room with such a lovely mountain of pillows. Big, soft, squishy pillows. Light and huggable for when you're really tired. How did Las Noches even get pillows? Ah well, I didn't care. I was time to slee–

"Hey Sally, how'd it go? Did'ja win? What new powers did you get? Huh?"

Damn you, Starrk, for splitting your soul into such an obnoxious half. I wonder what you'd be like whole. It seems Lilynette has all of your childish personality traits and motivation.

"Huh? Huh … HEY! YOU'D BETTER BE LISTENING TO ME!"

_WHAM-FFff._

"Hhh-OOoopphhh! Li-Lily, I a-am! Reall…yy-hh!"

I curled up into a ball while sitting up, recovering from her ax-kick to my stomach. For her, it was a rather gentle awakening. I've seen what she does to Starrk…

I looked up at the petite girl, my purple-tinted right eye involuntarily twitching. I fought away the ever-present want to yell at her to put some decent clothes on and sighed.

"It went fine. I still don't think I'm improving all that much though. I guess it was a draw." I rested my head on my knees. Lilynette patted the top of my head fondly. "It's okay, not everyone can be as strong as an arrancar like Starrk and me! But I'm sure you'll get better if you just try! I'll help!" Oh God.

"NO THAT'S REALLY NOT NECESARRY. _Please don't bother yourself I'll be fine it's perfectly oka_–" "Nope, I'm determined! I'll defiantly help Sally no matter what! Right Starrk? STARRK!" She bounced over to kick the lazy espada. I groaned. It didn't help that I was tired and she could only talk using exclamation marks. Her 'help' was something I could really do without.

"Mmmn, Yea, okay," I heard Starrk mutter.

Greeeaaaat. I hope Anna's doing better than me.

* * *

~~~~x ~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~Las Noches; Grimmjow's Room (Anna's POV) ~~X~~X~~X~~X ~~x~~x~~~~

"No. No no no. Absolutely not."

"Why? It'll be fun~," I said in what I hoped was a persuasive voice. Grimmjow scowled back at me. I kept my face passive, deciding that he'd think it was annoying if I sighed or pouted.

"The deal was that I help you train, not that we take a cute little day trip," Grimmjow growled.

"Yea, well, your version of 'training' was carting me around Las Noches to spy on lesser arrancars, who apparently weren't intelligent enough to think about anything besides blood and chaos. And high spiritual pressure makes it hard for me to read someone, so the other espada are out." _Plus most of them are really scary … Wait, so how come I can read Grimmjow easily?_

Said sexta interrupted my musings with a snort. "Not my problem. If that's the case, then just keep trying on the espada until you can hear them despite the high spiritual pressure."

I twitched. Did this guy have short-term memory loss or something? "But you didn't want to do that because you didn't want to 'hand around' the other espada or something." Antisocial and violent. Mom always said I should stay away from those types of people – but then again, Mom never had much advice when it came to fighting monsters or helping ghosts that she couldn't see. Anyway, I didn't have much of a choice.

"THEN, practice long distance sensing. You go waaaaaaay over there and see if you can still hear me. Bye." He rolled over on his bed.

"No, I already tried that, and it's not very effective. I can't get that far away from you in your little room, and I'm not wandering about outside with monsters who think I'd be tasty, thanks. Let's go to the human world. I'd be able to–"

"No."

"I'll keep being bothersome if you don't fulfill your end of the deal."

"I'll shove my fist though your skull if you do."

"Aizen wouldn't like that."

"_Aizen_ wouldn't like us taking an unauthorized trip to the World of the Living either. Last time he wasn't so happy."

Bingo. I smirked. "Oh, okay, so you're scared of this guy." I watched Grimmjow tense up in surprise while lying on his side. "Well, it's understandable. You don't want to upset Mr. Large and in Charge. I guess that's –"

"Heck no! I'm not scared of anyone!" Suddenly he was right in front of me. I flinched and stepped back automatically, then stared, determined, back up at him. He was a good head taller than me, probably more.

I raised my eyebrow at his angry form. "It's either that you're scared of Aizen, scared of Ichigo Kurosaki who's in the human world, or are too lazy. If you insist that you're not scared, that means that the so-called 'espada of destruction' is just a lazy…" calling him a pig would probably not be good for me, even if I WAS supposedly under Aizen's protection. This guy was pretty unpredictable. "…run-of-the-mill hollow." I didn't have to take the next step of comparing him to Starrk, which I hypothesized would piss him off as well, before he reacted.

"You'd better watch who you're talking to, brat! I'm Grimmjow Jaegarjaquez, and I'm not afraid of anyone!" _He ain't 'fraid-a nobody. Hehe. I wonder how to spell his name? _I drew myself back up. But rather than looking proud or stuffy, I broke into a wide smile and beamed at him expectantly, standing on my tippytoes and clasping my hands in front of me. "So then let's go to the World of the Living! It'll be fun!"

He twitched. I beamed.

"….fine, you brat! You' better thank me for this."  
"Yaaaay! Thank yoouuu!"

"…on second thought, don't."

* * *

~~~~x~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~ Soul Society, Division Four~~X~~X~~X~~X~~x~~x~~~~

Unohana sighed contently, carefully placing the glass vase of flowers on the windowsill. She began to walk out of her office gracefully, moving softly so as not to wake any of the patients that might be near.

She stopped at the entrance, slightly surprised. "Hinamori-san, what ever are you doing here at such a late hour? You are feeling alright, aren't you? I hope you've been taking it easy," she said the last line with a slight undertone of warning. As the captain of the medical squad, she wasn't happy to head that Hinamori had gone to the world of the living despite only being released from the fourth division days before – and not only had she been caught in a rainstorm, but she had been knocked unconscious in an encounter with Ichimaru Gin. The world didn't seem to want to take it easy on the girl.

"I'm feeling fine, Unohana-taicho. And, um, I promise I won't be sneaking out to the human world again." The small lieutenant relied, looking a bit sheepish.

"Well then, go to bed and rest. You should be taking it easy," Unohana said, smiling gently and making a move to leave the office. "Actually," Hinamori piped, "I was wondering … if, maybe, I could have you're help with something…?" Unohana blinked, surprised. "Why certainly. What is it that you'd like?"

"Well, lately I haven't been able to do much. I'm not as strong or as fast as most of my friends. But that's not going to keep me from moving forwards. So, I've been trying out this new technique that's sort of like kido, but it's hard to control…and I think I need a better grasp of anatomy and physiology to be able to use it effectively. At the least, I could better target my enemy's weak points that way." She looked up.

"Will you help me train?"

**End chapter three! Please tell me what you thought :3**

**And, I've mostly planned out the next chapter – in it, Ichigo arrives at Las Noches; meanwhile, another team of Shinigami are deployed to Human world, consisting of Byakuya Kuchiki, Soi Fon, Hisagi, and Kira. But soon, they encounter Grimmjow and Anna, and an inevitable fight breaks out! So, Anna gets to find out the true nature of her powers … stay tuned to hear more! (I sound like an old radio show. :P) The point is, I should actually be updating SOON this time. :)**

**On a different note, does anyone else have a problem with Grimmjow's last name? I just copied off Bleach Wiki, but seriously… Jeagerjaques? Jaggerjack? Jaeguerjaque? Jaggerjaquez? XP**


	7. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

…**I fail.**

**I saw this chapter in my archive, and thought I wasn't done editing it yet, so I added a bit more and edited some mistakes. 70% through, I realized I had already posted this chapter, right before I went on vacation X( Ah well. The problem was, I usually set up the next chapter in the archives so I'll know my place, but I was rushed to get this out before leaving for vacation and… yea. Well - here's the slightly edited version, anyway. And Chapter five will be coming soon. Sorry, lol. Feel free to just skip this over if you read it already, not too many changes.**

_ORGINAL DESCRIPTION: I'm going on vacation for two weeks starting tomorrow, so I figured I'd crank this chapter out since I won't be able to work on CPTA during that time. (Wish me luck at having to get up at 3am for my flight…but it's okay cause I love flying :D)_

_CHANGED DESCRIPTION BEFORE i REALIZED MY STUPID MISTAKE: I went on vacation across country for two weeks over Christmas break, which is why this update took longer than I had planned (originally I wanted to get it out BEFORE I went on vacation, but packing took longer than I expected). I wasn't expecting to do any writing tonight either (still have homework I SHOULD be doing…) but my dad and I were doing our New Year's ritual of dipping strawberries in melted chocolate, which made me think about Bleach (Ichigo = strawberry in Japanese). Anyway, here it is: chapter four of CPTA :D - finally Ichigo & co. Arrive at Hueco Mundo! _

Containing:

The Long-Waited Arrival; the Heroes Return!

The Cat and Mouse Go Shopping

Dress-up, Defeats, Division

Cooking Hour with Orihime Inoue … or Not

Grimmjow and Anna … versus Kira?

Ichigo, Ishida, Chad, Renji and Rukia stood on the white sands of Hueco Mundo once more, after a long journey on the back of a purple and slug like, but luckily friendly, hollow. They stared solemnly up at the massive white wall that was, finally, directly before them.

Behind them, said hollow, as well as two goofy-looking smaller hollows and a childlike arrancar girl attempted to mimic their solemn expressions.

"Well," Ichigo said. We're finally here." He lifted the enormous cleaver that he called his zanpakutou off his back, holding it before him. "Let's bust this place! … –AK! _The hell, Renji!"_

Renji lifted his hand, which had delivered a karate chop to the back of Ichigo's neck. "Idiot. What good will barging in do us? We'll get through quietly so we won't get swarmed with hollows."

"He's right, Kurosaki," Ishida said, pushing up his glasses. "The best way to operate a rescue mission is stealth. Even someone like Abarai can muster that much sense." Ichigo scowled – well, scowled more than usual. "Okay, but are you guys going to beat me up every time I do something wrong?"

Renji grinned. "Of course! It's too much fun–" He paused, and then frowned. "…Hey, wait a minute, you Quincy!"

"…I think … shouting like this defeats the purpose of stealth," Chad said quietly. Everyone froze.

Rukia sighed. "You're ALL idiots. Focus on the task at hand. We have to get though this wall somehow, and it is true that we want to go unnoticed. However, unless anyone has an idea of how we're going to do this quietly, we'll have to resort to Ichigo's method."

A small hand shot up from behind them.

"Nell has an idea!"

* * *

~~~~x~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~ Karakura Town ~~X~~X~~X~~X~~x~~x~~~~

"Gah. The air is always so stale in the World of the Living."

"Oh, hush," Anna said, peeking around the corner. Grimmjow eyed her disdainfully. "I told you, humans can't see me. Just walk like a normal stupid human would so we can get this 'training exercise' over and go back to Hueco Mundo already." Anna huffed in response, but straightened up and casually strolled around the corner.

She put her right hand around her right ear as if she was holding a small electronic device. "Well, you know, I had to make sure I didn't see anyone I knew that would recognize me, since I've been _missing_ and all."

"What the hell're you doing that for?"

Anna glanced around. They were on a mostly empty street beside a deserted park. "_So no one will think I'm a loony talking to themselves,"_ she muttered, as if having to explain something obvious. She sighed.

"It's no use. I have to be closer to people to read their thoughts, at least if they're humans who have weak … ghost senses."

"It's called _spirit power_," Grimmjow corrected with gritted teeth.

"Right, whatever. Anyway … right now, this isn't very effective traini– oh, wait!" Suddenly, Anna's eyes brightened. "I know! We'll go to the outdoor shopping center!"

Grimmjow gave her a deadpan stare. "…So this really _is_ a vacation, not 'training'. I knew it."

"Don't be silly. There'll be plenty of people there, and I can focus on hearing each one, one at a time, and see if it confuses me … and stuff. C'mon, let's go!"

"Wha- don't _pull_ me, you stupid human!"

* * *

~~~~x~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~ Urahara's Shop ~~X~~X~~X~~X~~x~~x~~~~

Kuchiki Byakyua, Soi Fon, Hisagi, and Kira stepped through the senkaimon and directly into Urahara's shop. "Ah, you're early!" Urahara said, stuffing his iconic hat onto his head. "So, what's the schedule?"

The sixth division's captain stepped forward. "The time for advance teams is past. We've posing as Karakura's first line of defense, in the event of another surprise invasion."

Urahara frowned. "Just the four of you? And both captains without their respective lieutenants? Although I'm sure Hisagi-san and Kira-san will do excellent work–"

"My lieutenant would just be a bother," Soi Fon said tightly, eyeing the shopkeeper in a way that broadly displayed her distain for the man. "Anyway, we're all without our power limiters, so we can fight full-strength immediately."

"And my lieutenant, as you obviously know… since you were the one who provided his transport," Kuchiki said _almost _expressionlessly, "is currently in Hueco Mundo, accompanying Kurosaki on a … rescue mission."

"Ah, right, right. It's just that, both the third and the ninth don't have captains to manage it at the moment, so I was wondering why both of you were here," Urahara said looking at Hisagi and Kira. "It won't matter if things go as planned and the Winter War will end up being in the fake Karakura town, since everyone will just come here. But if a sneak attack is made on the Soul Society, won't both your divisions be vulnerable?"

"It's extremely unlikely that Aizen would launch an attack directly into Soul Society," Hisagi explained. "His aim is Karakura town and the Royal Dimension, so why make a detour that would just end up with him vastly outnumbered and in our own territory? Besides, they wouldn't send two _more_ captains, and Captains Kuchiki and Soi Fon shouldn't go alone."

"I suppose they figured that you and Yourichi-san would help out in the occasion of an unexpected attack," Kira suggested. Urahara nodded; "Well, it is our job to protect Karakura…" "Any anyway," Kira continued, "I was in the previous team, so I know the area a bit better. The captain commander wouldn't send his lieutenant, the fourth division's better in soul society, Hinamori is … Actually, I'm not entirely sure, but I heard she's busy with some kind of training," Kira mused.

Hisagi nodded. "She hasn't been around lately, but when I have seen her, she's looked tired. I hope she hasn't been overdoing herself."

"She does have a tendency to do that. Anyway, Kusajishi-san and Kurotsuchi-san won't go anywhere without their captains; Captain Kyoraku didn't want Ise-san sent alone, and I suppose Iba-san is busy with his division. I think he might be training too," Kira finished. "Oh, and Matsumoto-san was also in the last mission and wouldn't go so suddenly on another…" _Although it may have something to do with captain … _Previous_ captain Ichimaru suddenly appearing… _he thought sadly.

"All right, all right, I was just making small talk," Urahara sighed. "No need for long-winded explanations. So – would you lot like to relax and have some tea? Or –"

"Actually, we're setting out right away," Kuchiki said. "It _is_ an emergency situation, after all."

"Of course. Well, I'll tell Yourichi of your arrival when she returns." He gave a hidden smirk when he saw Soi Fon deflate a little, realizing that her idol wasn't here.

"Good luck…" Urahara sang, turning around and walking back into the depths of his shop.

* * *

~~~~x~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~ Las Noches' Inner Perimeter ~~X~~X~~X~~X~~x~~x~~~~

"Ah-hmph."

The group of friends, plus Nel and her … siblings, tried to look as hollow-like (or as threatening, in Nel's case) as they possible cold.

Ishida's cape was over his head, and Rukia and Renji's cloaks were covering their uniforms and the hoods shadowed their faces – in addition, Renji had Zabimaru released inside the cloak to make him seem more bulky, and some of the sword's spikes pierced out from the cloak to make it look like he had some sort of hollow-like armor. Chad didn't have much to improvise with, so he merely materialized his attacking arm, and Nel and her brothers stood in front of him to draw away attention. Bawabawa was in the back.

Iceringer and D-roy looked at them skeptically. "I'm having some doubts here. Your reiatsu doesn't feel like a hollow's to me. And you're wearing a soul reaper's outfit, aren't you?" Iceringer pointed to Ichigo, whose only disguise was to wrap Zangetsu's cloth around his arms. "This is … my hollow disguise!" Ichigo said in a hopefully hollow-y growling voice that was actually rather frightening. "Because of my human-like form, I am able to slip in amongst regular shinigamis, so I can get closer to them…" He brought his hands up and wiggled his fingers. "…and EAT them! _Yum yum!_" He suppressed a twitch – never would he listen to Nel again!

The less-intelligent D-roy didn't seem too concerned about it, but Iceringer wasn't convinced. "All right then. If you're hollows, show me your hollow hole." Ichigo stared at the bird-like arrancar. What should he –

"Okay! Plan B!" Nel shouted. "What the – Nel!" Ichigo yelled, turning around.

Iceringer narrowed his one visible eye. "What's –" But before he could react, Ishida was behind him, bow drawn. A spirit arrow fired –

"Ha! Too show, human!" Iceringer shouted, jumping up high. Ishida smirked at pointed at something behind Iceringer.

Who was promptly swallowed by Bawabawa.

D-roy yelled and lurched forwards, but he was slow, and a few well-aimed punches from Chad dispatched him.

There was a beat of silence.

"NOW RUN!" Nel yelled. The group did so, going down a hallway. "Wait, no one told ME about this 'Plan B'!" Ichigo complained as he jogged. "There really wasn't on," Ishida said. "Just good, spontaneous team work." "But, that _was_ pretty easy, don'cha know," Dondochakka said, panting as he ran.

"Yea… I sure hope all our fights will be that quick," Pesche said, relieved.

"Don't say 'OUR' fights when you didn't do anything," Ishida grumbled.

"We provided moral support! That takes effort!" Pesche protested. "–Shut up!" Ishida barked. "No need to get snappy. I was just–"

"No, wait, seriously!" Ishida said, skidding to a halt. "Don't you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ichigo said suspiciously.

"…Uh-oh," Renji said, looking down.

There was a giant crack in the floor.

Rukia blinked. "When did–"

CRUNCH.

"EH?" She yelled, grabbing onto the nearest thing, which happened to be Chad. Next to them, the two hollow brothers were clinging onto eachother as if for dear life, and Ichigo had grabbed a screaming Nel. That left Renji and Ishida, who were falling side-by-side.

Everyone was tumbling in a different direction.

"Dammit! How far down does this thing go?" yelled Ichigo after a few seconds, trying to see though the darkness. The only illumination was from the hole they had fallen through overhead.

BAM.

There was a beat of silence.

"…That far," said Nel dizzily.

"Ah-ta-ta-ta-taaa," Ichigo groaned, rubbing his head, which he had banged on the floor of … wherever they were. It was still to dark to see. Ichigo got up on his knees. "…Rukia?"

No response.

"Renji? Chad? Ishida?"

"Uwaahh … eberywone got wost!" Nel blubbered, starting to cry.

"I think we're the lost ones," Ichigo muttered. "Erm… there, there…" He groped for a second in the darkness, and found her head to pat awkwardly. "Anyway, let's at least find some light in this place."

* * *

~~~~x~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~ Orihime's Room, Las Noches ~~X~~X~~X~~X~~x~~x~~~~

"Woman."

Orihime turned around, facing away from the high, barred window at which she had been staring at, standing. Playing the good little pet that, for now, was what she had to be... "…Ulquiorra? What is it? Does Aizen-sama need me for something?"

"Yes," the stoic espada replied, staring at his charge with a rock-steady gaze. "It seems as though your friends have arrived at Las Noches. Because of this, you are to again train with Sasalia Maki in a safe area away from the part of Las Noches that they have invaded, starting one hour from now."

Orihime stared at him, her expression going from blank to shocked to sad to worried. "They … came here? Why? Why would they come?" Her voice was a whisper. They weren't supposed to be here! She was here to protect them, not put them in danger!

"…We will likely be there until the night, so Aizen-sama has instructed me to prepare you a meal … 'that you would enjoy'. …I cannot cook. You will accompany me to the kitchen and make yourself a meal to bring."

Orihime nodded, then sighed. _I'm really feeling too depressed to make anything good. I doubt the kitchen here will have any bean paste. _

"We have bought many edible human supplies in preparation. Come."

"Yes."

^^ TWO MINUTES LATER ^^

"Wow! You even have ketchup and chocolate chips and water melon! That gives me a great idea!"

Holding the huge watermelon in both hands and craning back a bit to carry the weight, she asked, "Is there an oven in here?" Ulquiorra paused and then went to the wall, typing something on a keypad which caused a previously blank portion of wall to slide over and reveal a microwave oven. Orihime trotted over and put the watermelon inside while Ulquiorra looked on. His brows were raised half a centimeter higher than usual, which for him was like staring with his jaw dropped to the floor.

Orihime whisked around and asked happily, "Got any sardines?"

Ulquiorra blinked slowly. "…Woman."

"Yes?"

"…You are to stay out of the kitchen."

"Ehh? But– "

"Leave now. Do not come near the kitchen. Do not even look at the kitchen. In fact, use your human imagination to pretend the kitchen does not exist." Orihime blinked in confusion. "Do not come into the kitchen unless the survival of Las Noches is at stake. To be precise, the survival of Las Noches may depend on you not being in the kitchen."

"But I wanted to–"

"Do not worry, I shall prepare your meal. Aizen-sama would be most unpleased if you were to die before he has deemed your presence here unnecessary."

Orihime tilted her head innocently. "What does that have to do with my cooking?"

Ulquiorra glanced back at the oven with the watermelon inside, and the chocolate chips and ketchup on the counter.

"…Please leave now." Was his only response.

* * *

~~~~x~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~ Karakura Outdoor Shopping Center ~~X~~X~~X~~X~~x~~x~~~~

"…Oh shit. Grimmjow, duck."

Anna pulled the espada behind a stand of jewelry. The espada had (very unwillingly) followed the short girl around the outdoor shopping plaza, bored by the colorful displays of fresh fruit and the assortment of useless clothing and accessories. Anna, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying herself window-shopping and reading other people's thoughts. Once she opened her mind, it was a bit hard to concentrate on a single person, but she was gradually getting better at it. She could effortlessly pick out Grimmjow's mind in the crowd, since she knew him the best. Not that she let him know that she was picking his brain, and having a nice time with it too –

Until she saw a flash of a black kimono and a familiar face in the crowd.

"I know that person," she whispered, trying to ignore the fact that most people around her were staring at the girl crouching behind a stand and apparently whispering to herself. "He was one of the Shinigami people who came to my school."

"What? A soul reaper?" Grimmjow said, shocked.

"Yea. I think his name's Izuru or something."

"Huh. I didn't feel his reiatsu. Must be suppressing it." The blue-haired espada peeked around the stand, eyeing Kira, who was in full spirit form – no gigai. "Suppressing his reiatsu and moving in his spirit body. This guy's expecting a fight." He smirked. "I'm gonna have fun with this."

"…What? Why?" Anna hissed, alarmed.

Grimmjow's smirk turned into a full grin. "'Cause this time, no one's told me not to fight! _I'm gonna tear this soul reaper up!_"

Anna grabbed his arm, panicked. "Wait, no!"

"Too late! Let's rumble!" With that, he lurched the ground, effortlessly slipping away from Anna's grasp, and shot himself towards Kira.

**...And the inevitable fight will soon break out! So, until then, later!**

**~Kiwi~**


	8. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

**I can't believe the manga's on its final arc! :O**

**SO, thanks to the reviewer "ann" for reviewing a whole lot of chapters from this and 'Crazy People These Shinigami'! It made my day! And yes, I do type it out in a Word document first. And yes you get email notifications if someone reviews or favorites your story. I appreciate all your praise and advice :D You should get an account! (it would have been easier to reply to you then, lol.)**

**Anyway, so far: Ichigo and the others have left for Las Noches and met up with Nell, Sasalia's trained with Orihime and they're both working on destroying the hogyoku together … with Gin, and Anna somehow got Grimmjow to agree to go to the human world with her. Then Ichigo's group gets separated into groups of Renji and Ishida, Nel and Ichigo, Rukia and Chad, and those two goofy brothers, while a Shinigami team was deployed to the Human world again (Byakuya, Soi Fon, Hisagi, and Kira). **

…**And now Anna and Grimmjow are about to fight against Kira! We've got that fight in this chapter, and in the next, Renji and Ishida meet 8****th**** espada, and Chad and Rukia meet 9****th**** espada. Enjoy!**

Containing:

Cat vs. Mouse vs. Shinigami!

_Start of Discretion _

Momo vs. The Log?

ANNA SHIMIZU: MOST BADASS SPY

The blue-haired espada peeked around the stand, eyeing Kira, who was in full spirit form – no gigai. "Suppressing his reiatsu and moving in his spirit body... This guy's expecting a fight." He smirked. "I'm gonna have fun with this."

"…What? Why?" Anna hissed, alarmed.

Grimmjow's smirk turned into a full grin. "'Cause this time, no one's told me not to fight! _I'm gonna tear this soul reaper up!_"

Anna grabbed his arm, panicked. "Wait, no!"

"Too late! Let's rumble!" With that, he lurched the ground, effortlessly slipping away from Anna's grasp, and shot himself towards Kira.

"Hya!" Grimmjow yelled, energized.

"Idiot!" Anna yelled, infuriated. _All I wanted was a break away from all the crazy hollows and depressing scenery of Las Noches … oh, and to work on my powers too. But no … why'd I have to get paired up with the craziest guy of all?_

~_Damn – what the hell is this guy?~_

Anna blinked. Okay. This guy's thoughts are _loud. _I wasn't even trying to hear that. What was his name, again … Kira, right … I'll just call him blondie.

_Oh wait, Crap. Crapcrapcrap. What do I do?_ She shrunk back, hiding behind the jewelry stand. _I can't help in the fight, obviously. Wait, I should be thinking along the lines of, "I can't _break up_ the fight", since I don't want blondie to get hurt either. _She bit her lip, thinking over the sounds of metal clashing.

"Um, miss, what are you doing?"

Anna looked up to see the owner of the jewelry stand peering at her suspiciously. "…Oh! I'm… admiring the back of your cart," she said quickly, shifting to her knees and rubbing the wooden frame. "It's very lovely. And um, it's too bright out there," she added, when she saw the guy wasn't buying it. "I have delicate… eyes. Ow." _Buy it, buy it. Just leave … _Anna urged silently.

… leave …

Wait, what was that?

The guy's vision seemed to go hazy for a minute, the he nodded and walked away.

Anna stared after him, surprised. _Cool. Did I…?_

SWANG. Crrrrk..._ Not cool._

One of the two fighters had missed in their sword swinging and cut through a flag pole. "Watch out!" someone cried, as it crashed to the ground. Ana peered over the edge of the cart to see it land, away from the carts of merchandise, but narrowly missing a woman who had been talking on her cell phone. _Okay, this has to stop._

She shuffled back over to spot her … guard? Friend? Escort? … She scuffled back over to spot Grimmjow (which wasn't hard). He seemed to have the upper hand over the shinigami, and was currently engaging in a blade-lock with him. The blonde soul reaper was getting pushed back, quickly.

Concerned, Anna peered into Grimmjow's mind. A quick battle format – Anna blinked as it came to her, less structured than any of the 'sentence-or-two' thought waves she had 'heard' up until now. The layout was get the opponent off balance, then swing to slice him open when he was –

_No, no! No blood! I don't like blood. Or death._

So, what do you want to do, smartie? Get in between them and be all, "No, don't fight?" Grimmjow'd just throw you off to the side. Or worse.

_Yea yea, I get that. But I don't want blondie to get killed either._

You're rather useless, you know. Didn't you come here to train?

_What the heck. Shut up. Why am I talking to myself at a time like this anyway?_

Maybe you're reading your own mind, genius. Aren't you supposed to be the smart, insightful type?

_I hope you're not really my brain. I don't think I'm quite as mean as you, anyway._

I'd pay attention. It might not be blondie you have to worry about, after all.

_What…?_

Something shifted in the blade lock, and Kira spun his sword unexpectedly, cutting deep into Grimmjow's right forearm.

Grimmjow jumped back reflexively, just as Anna jumped out from behind the jewelry stand with a cry of protest, in full sight of both combatants.

For a minute, the shinigami and arrancar both stared at her, surprised. Taking advantage of this, Anna grabbed the biggest object on the stand – a heavy gold bracelet – and tossed it at Kira. "Here, catch!" Surprised, he did so out of reflex, dropping his stance.

"Hey! What are you – holy crap the bracelet is floating!" The owner of the jewelry stand cried. Anna blinked. _…Right. The humans can't see Grimmjow or blondie. I forgot about that. _

People were beginning to turn away from the fallen flag pole and the shaken woman-on-the-cell-phone and look at the commotion.

They _really_ started to pay attention when Grimmjow took advantage of Kira's distracted state to pick up the nearest stand (that advertised hair accessories) and throw it at the shinigami.

"Aw, shit." Anna groaned.

"W-What the hell is going on?" "IT'S A HAUNTED MARKETPLACE!" "Mommy, ghosts!"_ "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation…" _"Well… when you can't beat 'em, join 'em," Anna sighed. Climbing on top of the jewelry stand ("Hey! You're paying for anything you break!"), she put her hands up, cupping her mouth to amplify her voice. "ALIENS ARE INVADING! EVERYBODY RUN!"

And everybody did. _Cool._

"**Hadō #31. **Shakkahō!" _Not cool!_

_BAM. _The cart of hair accessories exploded in red, the soul reaper appearing largely unscathed from beneath it.

_Okay. When you can't beat 'em and you can't join 'em, do something random to throw them off while you escape. _

Before Grimmjow could jump back in, sword-first, Anna ran up to Kira and grabbed his hand – the one that didn't have the sword in it.

"Hello, sir! Fancy meeting you here!" She said cheerfully while shaking his whole arm. "…Uh…?" Was his confused response. "What the hell're you doing?" Was Grimmjow's pissed off response. Ignoring him, Anna continued with her … whatever she as doing.

Wait, actually, maybe she _could_ do something. She _had_ done _something_ to the owner of the jewelry cart, hadn't she? ...Sort of….

"So, I see you've become acquainted with my … blue-haired … friend," Anna said quickly, still shaking Kira's hand while ignoring the stares from the normal humans around her. She was holding his hand too tightly for him to pull away – while getting a good read on his reiatsu signature. "The thing is, I'm afraid he's a bit occupied at the moment."

"You're Anna Shimizu," Kira said blankly.

"Indeed! And the charming gentleman who tried to kill you is Grimmjow Pussycat." "_JEAGERJAQUES_!" "Yea, that. Anyway, like I was saying." Anna said hurriedly.

"–You went missing. Rather, you left for Hueco Mundo, didn't you?" Kira continued, not deterred by her randomness, despite the fact that she had still not let go of the hand that she was shaking rather violently.

"…Indeed! Now, we, and by we I mean not including you, are occupied. Right now. Very much. With things. That include – this would look really cute on you." Anna shot down to a crouch and picked up one or the hair accessories that hadn't been destroyed by the kido, dragging Kira off-balance with her sudden movement. She picked up a black clip with her free hand and stuck it in his hair, which left her left hand holding his left hand and her right hand pressed to his head.

"What the heck–" Both men said, equally bewildered by her antics.

_I hope this works, _Anna thought, focusing on the now-familiar sensation of Kira's reiatsu.

Fall unconscious

…He did. _Cool._

"Hey, Kira! Are you – HEY! You!" _Not cool! Dammit!_

Anna turned around to see another shinigami with dark, spiky hair and no sleeves on his uniform coming their way. Grabbing Grimmjow, she hissed, "Make a garganta!"

"What the hell did you _do_ to that guy?" Grimmjow said, looking uncharacteristically surprised.

_Just make the damn garganta! _

He winced. "Alright! No need to give me a migraine!" He snapped his fingers and the air opened up – cool and yet creepy to see. Grimmjow pushed Anna back into the hole just as the second soul reaper landed by the damaged cart and his unconscious friend. The sky closed around them, giving Anna enough time to lock eyes and give what she hoped was a sheepish and apologetic look to the dark-haired soul reaper.

The unlikely companions were now in the creepily spacious black dimension that Anna - once again - found herself traveling through. Grimmjow rubbed his temple and turned to Anna with an angry (-er than usual) expression as they traveled though the dark expanse between Hueco Mundo and the human world.

"I don't care about your weird powers or who you practice them on, but leave my head out of it! There's enough to give me a headache in Las Noches already without you mentally yelling in my head."

Anna frowned. "Mentally yelling? I wasn't trying to give you a headache. I was just … testing."

"Testing what?"

_Mind control, apparently. _"I don't even know; I've never done that before." The darkness evaporated and the white walls of Las Noches formed around them – back in Grimmjow's room. Stepping away from the blue-haired espada now that there was something to step on, Anna smoothed out her short brown hair. "I suppose it was just reverse-mind reading. Instead of hearing other peoples' thoughts, I put my own into their mind. It's kinda hard."

"I really don't care about 'how hard' you think it is," Grimmjow said, his eyes narrowing. _Figures. _"What I'm interested in is how your 'thought projecting' thing made that Soul Reaper collapse." _Crap._

"Uh… _suggestive_ thought projecting?" Anna shrugged, hopefully.

"…So, mind control." _Damn, he's smarter than he looks. _"Noooo," Anna said, shaking her head rapidly. "It's not mind control … is it? Wait, hold on a sec."

Looking hard at the tall arrancar, Anna thought, _Umm… _wave. His hands stayed firmly in his pockets. Anna tried concentrating on his reiatsu more…

Grimmjow's eye twitched. "Cut it out! It's all… echo-ey!"

"Right right, sorry," Anna sighed in defeat. "…So, what other things give you a headache in Las Noches?"

"Aizen," was the speedy and blunt reply. "Shinigami thinks he can just waltz in like he owns the place…"

"Doesn't he?"

Grimmjow scoffed. "He _thinks_ he does. But no matter how strong he is, a shinigami wil never be able to rule over Las Noches." Anna frowned.

"Wait, so he took it over?" It was Grimmjow's turn to frown. "Didn't Aizen tell you about this?"

Anna shrugged. "I sort of got a briefing about the shinigami world and spirits and stuff." Grimmjow snorted. "Aside from the mechanics of how the world works, I bet he was lying though his teeth about whatever else he told you." The mousy girl glared up at him. "What do you mean, he was lying?"

Grimmjow flicked her on her forehead in response. "Why would you believe the words of the guy who kidnapped you anyway?" Kidnapped? That _is_ basically what happened, but… "Geeze. You're ridiculously naïve." Rubbing her forehead and resisting the urge to kick him in the shin, Anna considered her stance.

"What I heard was that there are three main groups; the humans, soul reapers, and the hollows." She began carefully.

"Right."

Encouraged, she continued. "It's the soul reaper's job to help ghosts pass over, and to kill mindless hollows, who were once human ghosts that the shinigami failed to save."

"Basically."

"But the Soul Society is corrupt and inefficient, so Aizen left with those two other guys and made a home here."

"I wouldn't call it home making, more like a hostile takeover. And substitute 'left' for 'betrayed'."

"Oh … but, now, with the power of the hogyo-thing, he's giving the mindless hollows their reason back, and once he's accumulated a big enough force here in Hueco Mundo, he's going to go back to the soul society and lead a revolution."

"'Army' instead of 'force', and it's not really a 'revolution', it's more like …'destroy the Soul Society and everyone in it'. Oh, he's also going to kill the Soul King. Whoever that is."

Anna blinked. "…Oh." _Well, it sure sounds different when you put it that way._

"Oh, and he's planning on destroying Karakura Town in order to use all the human's souls that are in it to create the key that he needs to get to the place where the Soul King lives."

"…WHAT?"

~~~~x~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~ Seiretei, 5th division training field ~~X~~X~~X~~X~~x~~x~~~~

_Shing._ Thump.

"More."

Another solid log – previously standing upright in the middle of the large field that was reserved for training and exercise – fell, cut into three equal pieces._ Shing._ Thump. "More." _Shing._ Thump-ump. Two more logs: six more pieces. _Shing. _What looked like a highly versatile, slightly glowing wire was swinging through the logs.

Standing about fifteen feet away from her targets, Hinamori lifted her hands again, which weren't holding any zanpakutou. _Shhh… _

_Tumph. _"Shoot!" Rather than slicing the log rapidly once more, the thin line of reishi that constructed the wires blurred just before it hit, and subsequently left only a slight indentation on the target.

"That doesn't look easy."

"Yeah," Hinamori sighed. Then she jumped. "–Wah! Toshiro! How long have you been there?"

"Awhile," the shorted soul reaper said, his arms crossed, leaning against a pole on the porch of the division barracks that were just behind Hinamori. "And that's captain Histu… ah, nevermind." He glanced at the reddening sky. "It's getting late, hadn't you better turn in?"

"I haven't done as much as I have yesterday," Hinamori said, turning back to the field. Half the logs were on the ground, sliced, but that meant that half still remained. "Captain Unohana said that using your reiatsu is like using a muscle, it'll only increase if you keep using it, more and more. It I do less than what I did yesterday, I'll be moving backwards." Toshiro sighed. "You can't forego sleep for that, though."

"It's only six o'clock!" Hinamori protested indignantly, looking back at her old friend. How much rest did he think she needed?

"Yeah, but don't you also have a bunch of paperwork to do?"

"….Maybe."

"Don't 'maybe' me. I should know, I was doing most of the paperwork for the fifth squad while you were in the hospital. It's Friday, which means there's going to be all sorts of general reports that need reading and summarizing before they can be reported to the Head Captain by the end of the month."

"…Well… I can do those later!" In a huff, she faced the logs and focused on the reishi that surrounded the area. A slight rush of wind in towards the field was all that could be sensed for a second, as the reishi was pulled in and started to condense. It twisted and gathered into a smaller and smaller space until it was so tightly packed that it became visible – a thin, glowing blue line.

With a quick expelling of breath, Hinamori shooed the reishi wire to thrash strategically amongst the logs, cutting up a good number of them before the ends of the wire started to dissipate, and the rest unraveled rather quickly.

She huffed out the rest of her breath, while Toshiro raised an eyebrow behind her. "Yes. It's rather hard to control," she said, in a proper response to the question he had asked. "Forming it isn't so hard, but moving it around while keeping its shape…"

"If anyone can do it, it would be you," Toshiro noted. "You're naturally skilled at kido – this is pretty similar."

Hinamori brightened. "Well, I'll keep working hard then!"

"…Wait, but seriously, you're still not 100% healed. Shouldn't you take it easy?" Faced with a stubborn pout, he added, "It's like giving your reiatsu time to replenish while you're resting. Do something 'zen' that will make you feel peaceful. You love reading, go read a book. A _peaceful_ book."

"…Or, we could watch the sunset. Like we used to when we were kids." Hinamori suggested.

"We're not anymore, you know."

"Oh…I know," Hinamori said, blushing slightly and looking back off into the sky.

~~~~x~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~ Some Random Hall in Las Noches ~~X~~X~~X~~X~~x~~x~~~~

"Hey."

"Ssshhh."

"Hey, dammit…"

"Sh!"

Grimmjow's fist slammed into the white wall that he was walking alongside. "Stop walking like that! It's pissing me off! And it's not like we need to be sneaking around, as long as I'm with you it's fine, Aizen doesn't care where you go! You're just making yourself looks suspicious!"

Anna glared at him from her position giving the wall a backwards-hug, trying to make herself look as unnoticeable as possible in the corridor where there weren't a lot of places to hide. The totally blank whiteness didn't help. Maybe that was the point, actually.

Grimmjow huffed. "If you wanna go talk with your blonde girlfriend, no one gives a damn. It doesn't matter if you know about Aizen's true motives or not. It doesn't change the fact that you're here and you're a helluva lot weaker that every other being here. It's not like you could run away or sabotage us. I dunno why Aizen even bothered to try and trick you."

"Speaking of which, mightn't you get in trouble for telling me about Aizen? Whatever the reason, he did take the trouble of telling me that story himself."

"Ha! I'm not scared of that shinigami or what he thinks," Grimmjow growled. Anna could sense how deeply angry he was. "Remember, he can't control me. Here we are, anyway."

They had stopped in front of a door with a black number "1" on it.

"The primera espada, Coyote Starrk's room," Grimmjow announced, bored. However, he studied the door with a frown. "I can't feel his reiatsu in there."

"No? Are you sure? Is Sasalia there?" Anna prodded, peering around him at the door. It didn't look like it had a handle – how did you get in? "Trust me, his reiatsu's pretty hard to miss. He _is_ the strongest arrancar, after all. And hell if I know about your human friend, if her reiatsu's the same as yours, of course I couldn't sense it. You hardly even feel like you exist to me," Grimmjow said haughtily. Anna knew better than to complain and make a big deal out of his bragging; rather, she could use it to her advantage.

"That's weird, I thought hollows like yourself were supposed to be better than humans at everything," she began. "We are," came the automatic response.

"I dunno, I think I could find her reiatsu if I tried. You can't? Well, it's okay. Maybe hollows just aren't suited for –"

"Like hell! Don't think that you're the only one who can use reiatsu sensing, human!" Grimmjow yelled. Anna kept her face lightly surprised, while she smirked triumphantly inside. Meanwhile, Grimmjow was busy trying to find Sal's presence. The trouble was, he really _wasn't _the best tracker…

Then, the door banged open.

"Who the hell're you guys that are yelling outside our door!"

Anna stared, shocked, at the young girl with green hair and big helmet-like mask, who was wearing a lot less clothing than a girl her age should be.

"Uh," was Anna's intelligent (not) reply. "I'm … Anna Shimizu … and I'm … looking for my friend Sasalia." _Come to think of it, didn't I see this girl with Sal on the first day here?_ The young Arrancar's face brightened. "Oh yea! Actually, right now, Starrk took her to train with 'Hime. But I can play with you if you want."

Before Anna could respond, Grimmjow yelled, "Sorry, she'll have to decline!", grabbed Anna's arm, and Sonido'd away.

About a minute (and a mile) later, Grimmjow let go of Anna, who promptly fell down on her face.

"That was close," Grimmjow sighed.

Anna replied with something that was muffled, as her mouth was pressed against the ground. Grimmjow, being the subtle gentleman he was, lifted her up by her hair. "Yea, girl?"

"I SAID TELL THAT TO MY FACE YOU BASTARD! Dammit let go!" She snarled, uncharacteristically pissed off. Surprised, Grimmjow dropped her. Then he narrowed his eyes and sniffed his hand.

"…Have you been using my shampoo?"

"Yup. Do you care?" she said while trying to get her hair back in order. "Anyway, what was your problem with that girl?"

Grimmjow growled. "You should be thanking me. I saved you from being smothered by pillows and getting your hair braided and being colored on. Oh, wait, where are we? Shit. This better not by Szayel's labs–"

"Anna? What are you doing?"

It was Sasalia.

Surprised, Anna spun around. "Sasalia? How long have you been there? Oh, wait, I was looking for you!" Running up and grabbing her friends' shoulders, Anna started speaking frantically. "Do you know what Aizen is really planning?"

"Yea. Gin told me."

"He wants to annihilate all of Karakura town to make this key thing!"

"Yea. Gin told me."

"And he's gonna use that key to kill the king of soul society, and then destroy the soul society!"

"Yea. Gin told me."

"He's not revolutionizing anything! And these hollow-people are all in his army! And I bet the soul society isn't even corrupt!"

"Yes, I KNOW. Anna, you're rambling." Sasalia grabbed Anna's hands off her shoulders and pushed them away. "Freaking out isn't gonna do anything you know. Geeze, did our roles suddenly get reversed? I thought you were the calm and collected one."

Anna blinked. "Sasalia, is there a reason that your clothes all burned and your hair is kinda static-y?"

"I… may have accidentally hit myself with my own lightning abilities. Again." As if to make up for it, she added, "Looks like I've gotten stronger, though, 'cause I don't usually end up like _this_ afterwards!"

Grimmjow coughed something that sounded like "moron" behind them.

"…Hey watch what I can do!" Sasalia stomped the ground, and a pillar of stone shot up from under Grimmjow's feet, shooting him upwards where he banged his head on the ceiling. "Bitch!" "Thanks. Anyway," the blonde continued to her friend, "leave worrying about Aizen to me. Try to get stronger before the war, who knows what skills we'll need. Right now I really need a shower, so I'll see you!"

Sasalia turned and walked in the opposite direction without seeing how pissed-off Anna looked, just as Grimmjow was regaining his balance on the ground once more.

_Seriously? Avoiding all of this being-left-out-of-the-loop shit is the reason I came here in the first place! _

She was about to storm after her friend when she felt someone else's presence in the hallway. Sasalia had rounded a corner. Making eye contact with Grimmjow, she pressed her pointer finger to her lips and then scooted closer to the wall with her backwards-hug. Someone was saying something – Sasalia. And someone was replying.

That must be Ichimaru.

~~~~x~~x~~X~~X~~X~~X~~ Urahara's Shop ~~X~~X~~X~~X~~x~~x~~~~

"…_but luckily, no one was seriously injured. Strangely, witnesses are unanimously insisting that the odd events were due to an _alien attack_. Back to you, Hiro, what do you say about all of this?"_

"_Well, Sakura," A dark-haired man with a microphone said, standing in front of the wreckage of an outdoor marketplace, "Authorities are still investigating the scene, but all evidence seems to point to a rather intense fight – there aren't any supernatural-looking damages that would point to extraterrestrial involvement, just broken carts and pavement that look like they were damaged by blows, and occasionally marks that appear to be from knives or swords. Although, the 'fight' explanation is hard to believe with the sheer extent of the wreckage and the insistence of the citizens who saw the objects moving apparently on their own. All we can say is that the strange events are so far a mystery and will surely live in infamy for this small town."_

"_Thank you, Hiro. Reports that a missing girl, Anna Shimizu, was seen in the marketplace just before the scene are yet to be confirmed. If anyone has any more information…"_

Click.

"We-ell," Urahara said, his fan over his mouth as he put the television remote down. "What an interesting turn of events that we have _here_."

Behind him, the eyes of Byakuya and Soi Fon narrowed.

**So, that's chapter five. By the way, I am smack dab in the middle of moving, so AGH, LIFE – (insert complaints and excuses for not updating sooner). That's basically it, besides the fact that I've changed the summary. I like this one better. **

**The first one was:**Sequel to 'Crazy People, These Shinigami'! Sal and Anna are in Las Noches, but everything is NOT as it seems. Anna has her own powers and Gin isn't really with Aizen? And how about Grimmjow? Meanwhile, Orihime is here too, and Aizen is plotting... GrimxOC

**Now it's: **Two humans who have briefly encountered Ichigo & co, the telekinetic Sasalia and telepathic Anna, are 'abducted' by Aizen. In reality, Sasalia has been recruited by Gin in a plan to destroy the hogyoku. But will Anna serve as an aide to Sasalia with her powers and comradeship with Grimmjow, or will Aizen find a way to manipulate them both? Sequel to "Crazy People, these Shinigami".

**Next chapter focuses all on what's going on in Hueco Mundo: Renji and Ishida vs. Szayel), and Chad and Rukia vs Aaroniero. Plus, Anna gets even more balls, and we see Sal's convo with Gin! :D Until then, Kiwi out! **

**PS. The "Start of Discretion" is referring to Grimmjow becoming closer to Anna and therefore not loyal to Aizen. Not that he ever really was in the first place. But if Anna can grow balls then he can too. :3**


End file.
